Post by Keith on Aug 12, 2019 7:11:12 GMT -6

Damaging thunderstorms, flooding to aim at midwestern US on Monday

Portions of the midwestern United States are expected to deal with rounds of thunderstorms, which may pose a threat for flooding, damaging winds, hail and even isolated tornadoes Monday into Monday night.

The same storm that unleashed damaging thunderstorms and several tornadoes across the High Plains to end the weekend will be responsible for triggering the severe weather across the Midwest to start the week.

AccuWeather meteorologists are concerned, not only for the risk of severe weather in this area, but also flooding as some locations may have multiple rounds of soaking thunderstorms.

Post by Keith on Aug 12, 2019 7:11:51 GMT -6

NASA shock: Asteroid bigger than Eiffel Tower hurtling near Earth

An asteroid bigger than a 100 storey building was tracked by NASA as it careered past Earth early on Saturday, highlighting the threat posed towards our planet by space rocks. The asteroid, known as 2006 QQ23, could have hit with a force 500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, had it been travelling along a different trajectory. A video shows a model of the asteroid, which is 1860 feet in diameter at its widest point, orbiting closely to Earth.

2006 QQ23 hurtled past Earth on Saturday, in what is reported to be the closest call of an asteroid hitting the planet since 2001.

Although 2006 QQ23 missed Earth by 4.6million miles, NASA considered the asteroid to be “potentially hazardous”.

Post by Keith on Aug 13, 2019 6:50:47 GMT -6

Severe storms to rumble across 1,000-mile stretch of eastern US Tuesday afternoon

The storm system responsible for triggering severe weather across the Midwest Monday and Monday night will continue to bring a threat for disruptive storms on Tuesday.

Cities stretching from Baltimore to Richmond and westward through Nashville, Tennessee, and near Little Rock, Arkansas, will face a threat for severe thunderstorms later Tuesday.

Clusters of thunderstorms that were ongoing across the Midwest and Ohio Valley on Monday night will continue to track east and southeast as the day progresses. These clusters will become focal points for the severe threat later in the day.

Post by Keith on Aug 13, 2019 6:51:23 GMT -6

Texas power demand sets record high as heat wave bakes U.S. Southeast

(Reuters) - Demand for electricity in Texas hit a record on Monday as consumers cranked up their air conditioners to escape a heat wave that is currently baking much of the Southeastern United States, according to the state’s power grid operator.

High temperatures in Houston, the state’s biggest city by population, hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38° Celsius) on Monday and could go higher on Tuesday, according to AccuWeather forecasts. The normal high in Houston is 96 F at this time of year.

The U.S. National Weather Service issued heat advisories for much of the Southeast. In Houston, the combination of heat and humidity will make it feel more like 111-113 F on Monday and Tuesday.

Post by Keith on Aug 13, 2019 6:55:15 GMT -6

Dozens of deaths and injuries lay in the wake of Lekima's destruction after the typhoon struck eastern China on Saturday morning.

The intense flooding and threat of landslides prompted over a million people to leave their homes.

With the strength equivalent to a powerful Category 3 hurricane, the powerful typhoon barreled onshore near Shitangzhen, in the province of Zhejiang, around 1:45 a.m. local time Saturday (1:45 p.m. EDT Friday).

Post by Keith on Aug 14, 2019 7:05:35 GMT -6

A tropical disturbance over the eastern Pacific has a 60% chance of development into this weekend and may travel close enough to Hawaii to have some impact next week.

There are no immediate tropical threats to the Hawaiian Islands through this weekend.

The closest disturbance is located southwest of the islands, over the Central Pacific. This feature is not forecast to make a close enough approach to be of concern, even if it were to organize and strengthen.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:56:54 GMT -6

More severe storms to rock the central US with big hail, wind, tornadoes through Friday

Severe storms rocked parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest on Tuesday and more storms will affect part of the central United States through at least Friday.

A series of weak disturbances in the jet stream passing through hot and humid air will trigger rounds of severe thunderstorms from the eastern slopes of the Rockies to parts of the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes in the coming days.

The intensity of the storms is likely to be greatest from the late-day through the evening hours. During this time, some of the strongest storms have the potential to produce large hail, wind gusts to 70 mph, localized flooding and isolated tornadoes.

Post by Keith on Aug 15, 2019 6:57:43 GMT -6

Record-breaking hailstone in Colorado: 'Big hail like this can easily kill people'

Monster hail fell from the sky and hammered areas of the central United States on Tuesday, shattering a state record. Earlier on Tuesday before the storms developed, AccuWeather Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer warned that Colorado's state hail record could be in jeopardy given the intensity of the storms that he saw developing.

His prediction came to fruition on Tuesday afternoon when a hailstone with an unofficial measurement of a maximum diameter of 4.83" fell in Bethune, Colorado, on Tuesday afternoon. The record was confirmed on Wednesday evening by the Colorado Climate Center and the National Weather Service office in Goodland, Kansas. The previous state record in Colorado was 4.5 inches.

As the Colorado Climate Center said on Twitter, photos indicate that the stone could have been even larger than recorded due to the time in between its falling and when it was put in the freezer.